The holidays tends to bring on conversations with old colleagues and catching up with family, friends and clients. Often times, we zip through life and business and don’t stop to get to know the people we interact with on a daily basis. How could this be?

I have a few colleagues and friends who are particularly good at finding out all about the lives of people they work with (without wasting all sorts of time). They always seem to have some detail I never knew about someone I talk with frequently about business matters. Couldn’t we always do better?

You can even learn new things about family and friends by spending time in new settings. This year, my Mom (with our help) hosted Christmas for my aunts, uncle, brothers and nephew. My nephew is seated between my aunts/uncle below. Since it was also my Aunt Joan’s birthday on Christmas Day, we have multiple cakes to celebrate and we learned new things by watching some really old family movies!

One tip to implement this week:There is no need to wait a year to get to know each other. Why not take a few minutes this week to find out one fact about someone you work with that you didn’t already know? I bet if you ask a question or two, you’ll discover something interesting. Who knows? It might give you a closer relationship so that you enjoy that project a bit more or are more effective working as a team. It certainly won’t hurt!

Reach out. In addition, reach out to your supplier, customer, trusted advisor or former colleague to say hi and see how he/she is doing. Ask if there is anything you could do or someone you could put them in touch with who might provide value for him in his career or life. I’ve found that a simple introduction can go a LONG way in alleviating stress, improving business success, increasing engagement and more. For example, my aunt needs a new physician in her area and so I reached out to a former client to ask for recommendations because I knew he used to live in that area (Mesa, AZ), and his wife is in the medical profession. Since joining ProVisors, I have found that there is a VAST network of connections in the world that can accelerate and enhance personal and business success. Interestingly, this same aunt needed an important medical referral in Boston previously and a consulting colleague provided me with a perfect referral. It IS a small world.